THE TEAM
ROBERT TAYLOR
Robert's interest in combative sports started at a very early age. Robert started boxing at the age of 4. His grandfather was inter-service Golden Gloves in the Army, and started teaching Robert to box at an early age. Despite the fact boxing wasn't big in the South, and most boxing gyms coming and going, Robert continued to train boxing. Due to his consistency, with boxing, in 2010, Robert was honored to be offered a boxing match on ESPN Friday night fights; however, due to work obligations was unable to compete.
Boxing was only the beginning of Robert's training journey. At the age of 5 his Father put him into Tae Kwon Do (TKD). Robert started TKD in 1980, but like most boys growing up in Middle GA, he played more traditional sports such as football, basketball, and baseball also. Robert's passion and focus always came back to the combat sports. Eventually Robert earned a 3rd degree black belt in TKD under the Korean Grandmaster Young Sil Seo and Master V LaGrand.
This was only the beginning of Robert's martial arts journey. In his late teens, Robert was introduced to kickboxing and he thought this was a good way to combine his punching and kicking abilities. This eventually lead to him discovering Muay Thai kickboxing which has been his focus for more than 20 years. Robert has trained and competed across the US and in Thailand. Muay Thai continues to be his primary focus to this day.
Robert has also trained and competed in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and is currently a purple belt. Robert has been fortunate to call some of the best in the sport of BJJ his coaches and continues to work BJJ into his regular training routine.
In addition to his passion for martial arts training, Robert was able to find a career that he was passionate about and could use some of the knowledge gained over decades of training to help others. Robert a career law enforcement officer and has been wearing a badge for nearly 25 years. he spent many years in local law enforcement before he was hired as a federal agent. Below is a noncomprehensive list of the professional training Robert has received.
Certified SWAT/SRT 2003. Robert was the youngest member of his county SRT team at the time and has been passionate about developing the craft since. Robert has a total of approximately 18 years of being an active member of a local or federal SRT team. This includes just shy of 6 years of teaching tactics at the largest law enforcement training center in the US.
Firearms instructor (FI) for more than 20 years. Robert has been able to attend multiple firearms instructor schools over the years in an effort to continue to develop his craft.
Defensive tactics instructor (DT) since roughly 2006. This was something that Robert was able to thrive at due to his background and understanding of a physical altercation. Again, Robert has done this on the highest level in his profession. Robert has helped to rewrite curriculum over the years and continues to develop programs to help others be able to defend themselves.
In addition to being multi time certified "team guy" Robert has also been able to attend multiple tactics instructor courses that have helped to develop him in
Robert is certified Modern Army Combatives instructor. (Very few civilians get to attend the course, but I trained with the fight team in preparations for multiple fights.)
VERONICA TAYLOR
As the daughter of a US Army soldier and growing up in South Korea for her formative years, Veronica was introduced to Tae Kwon Do (TKD) at a very early age. Her father, who trained and competed with the South Koreans (ROK soldiers) while stationed there, was himself a black belt in TKD. As she grew older, and based in large part to her fathers training and her heritage, Veronica always had a passion for training and wanted to herself become a TKD black belt. As a child and early teen years, Veronica trained in Goju Kung Fu, but when she turned 16, and she was able to access a legit TKD school, she started training full time. Veronica eventually earned a Kukkiwon black belt from a Grand Master. Kukkiwon is the official governing body of World Tae Kwon Do Federation and only available to those that are recognized as carrying on the true traditions of TKD.
As Veronica grew in her Martial Arts journey she recognized that she had gaps in her hand-to-hand combat training. With this in mind, she became an avid boxer and trained boxing almost daily in an effort to get her boxing ability to equal her kicking. Veronica has also enjoyed training in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu (BJJ) and Muay Thai.
Despite having to balance the obligations of being a stay-at-home mom, homeschooling our child, assisting in building a business and maintaining the house and animals, Veronica still finds time to train at every opportunity.
Veronica is instrumental in the development of our women's self defense program and leads that whenever feasible.
In addition to her combatives training, Veronica has become interested in competitive shooting and is training with the same focus in firearms as she has demonstrated in her Martial Arts training. Time permitting she will be competing in both USPSA pistol and PCC matches in the near future.